Tribune article by Pam Bohmfalk

Hastings Public Library staff

Library goes green with task force grant—April 10, 2009

In 2007 when Hastings won the Yahoo! Greenest City award, the Green City Task Force was established to make decisions about how the money received would be spent. The mission of the Task Force, according to their web site, is to “lead Hastings to overall improvement and sustainability of our environment through education, economic practices and social responsibility.” Since the library plays a huge role in educating our community, we requested funds from the Green City Task Force to purchase library materials that support their mission. This article is an attempt to say thank you to the Task Force and to inform the public of some of titles that have been purchased with Green City money.

The library has attempted to purchase books on a wide range of topics and age levels within the area of environmental education. Children’s informational books have been added, including the series “Saving Our Living Earth” with titles “Understanding Global Warming”, “Protecting Earth’s Water Supply” and “Protecting Earth’s Land.” Another series called “Let’s Explore Global Energy” covers wind energy, biofuels, going green and wind energy.

Many are practical how-to titles to use at home like “Green Clean: the Environmentally Sound Guide to Cleaning Your Home” by Linda Hunter, “Easy Green Living” by Renee Loux or “Super Natural Home” by Beth Greer. Others, like “Greening Your Business: the Hands-on Guide to Creating a Successful and Sustainable Business” by Daniel Sitarz or “Beyond Light Bulbs: Lighting the Way to Smarter Energy Management” by Susan Meredith might be more applicable to the business manager.

Community and organization leaders might enjoy “The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organizations are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World,” “Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability Revolution” by Auden Schendler, or “The Idealist.org Handbook to Building a Better World.”

A few other general titles are Diane MacEachern’s “Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World,” “Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis” by Rowan Jacobsen and “Greasy Rider: Two Dudes, One Fry-Oil-Powered Car, and a Cross-Country Search for a Greener Future” by Greg Melville.

Celebrate Earth Day and spring by reading one of the many titles added to the Hastings Public Library through the Green City Task Force Grant.

Read a good review lately?

Seen an author on TV that caught your interest? If you are a Hastings Public Library patron, e-mail the library with the author, title, and how you heard about it, if possible. Be sure to include your name and phone number and we will notify you when the book has arrived.